Over the years I have gotten requests for a class that goes beyond the basics of my BPMessentials BPMN Method and Style training. OK, we're going to do it! It will be in June, probably replacing my regular live-online class. It will only be available to those who have received the BPMN Method and Style certification, or who have completed Level 10 of my bpmnPRO gamified eLearning app, within the last year. (If you're interested and have not taken the Method and Style training, I will be offering a discounted combination of the April Method and Style class and the June BPMN Master class. Contact me for details.)
The Master class will have homework assignments in between the class days, and will have its own post-class certification based on one or more mail-in assignments.
Here's some of what I plan to cover...
1. End-to-end processes composed of multiple BPMN processes. Because the instance of each activity in a BPMN process must have 1:1 correspondence with the process instance, end-to-end processes in the real world often must be modeled as multiple pools (top-level processes) interacting via messages and shared data. For example, an activity performed once a week to adjust prices cannot be part of a process where the instance is a single order. We discuss this a bit in the Method and Style class in the context of a hiring process, but the Master class will go into much more depth and cover more variations.
2. Event-triggered in-flight process change. Based on some monitored data condition, either on the work in aggregate - queues too long - or on the particular instance - late, or special priority - an in-flight instance switches to an expedited mode.
3. Unstructured processes driven by events and user action. Pssst. Don't tell the case management fanatics, but much (I would say "most") of what can be modeled in OMG's new Case Management Model and Notation (CMMN) can be done already in BPMN! We'll discuss the use of event subprocesses, in particular those with Escalation or Conditional triggers - or Multiple, to fully model Event-Condition-Action behavior - to describe unstructured processes.
4. Goal-directed processes. BPMN is normally used to describe classic orchestration, in which completion of one activity effectively starts the next one. An alternative might be to establish goals and prerequisites for the process as a whole and each of its component activities, and let those guide the flow, in the same way that Google Maps tells you the best route to your destination based on your current location and traffic conditions. Systems that actually do this typically employ intelligent agent technology, but BPMN doesn't have to figure out the best path. It just needs to be able to describe a process when the "best next step" is dynamically determined.
That's a pretty interesting list of topics, I think. Of course, we'll start with an in-depth review of the Big 3 event types - Message, Timer, and Error - and their use in event subprocesses. We'll do some in-class exercises on those, but the four topics above will require more deliberation than we have time for in class, so the exercises on those will emphasize homework, which we will discuss at length in class.
I am still developing the content for this class, so if you are interested in some other BPMN topic I haven't mentioned, please comment on this post or email me directly. Look for more details in the coming days.
UPDATE: More info on the class here.